After getting the Malaysian women team disqualified last year,this year women Kabaddi team of England is once again in a complaint mode. This time,the team has complained against Pakistan’s women players. It has asked for a medical check-up,alleging that three players in Pakistan’s women team were transgenders.

Ashok Das,coach of England’s kabaddi team,said: “We complained to the sports department on December 7 — when we played our first match with Pakistan in Jalalabad. However,no one listened to our complaint. Once the government has organised an international-level tournament,they must raise their standards to such level and the complaint must be acted upon without delay.”

Director,Sports,Shivdular Singh Dhillon,however,said: “The England team never gave us the names of the players about whom they have doubts and had sent us a general complaint. We cannot act on this complaint unless we have specific names.”

Meanwhile,Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka and president of the Punjab Kabaddi Association,ruled out any medical check-up,saying that once the passports of players affirmed that they are girls,there was no question of checking their gender.

The England team,however,is unhappy with the replies. Das said: “Last year,we had complained against the nationality of the Malaysian players. About 80 per cent of the players were actually from Punjab and they had gone to Malaysia a few months before the tournament and they had presented themselves as Malaysians. It took the Punjab government about nine months to verify the facts and later Malaysia,who had finished second in the tournament,was disqualified and Denmark was given the second prize while our team was judged third.”

This is the third year of women’s kabaddi tournament. In the first year,England team was runner-up and last year they finished third after the inquiry. This year,they have fallen to the fifth place.